The True Cost of Lifetime Beauty Care

What this article doesn't explicitly state is that only people obsessed with their looks spend this much a year. Yes, it says "diva", but I highly doubt all people who are simply full of themselves would be so wasteful. A lot of the numbers also seem exaggerated, because I have never come across someone who gets a haircut six times a year. Also, it generalizes for tanning and hair removal. Again, not everyone tans to become beautiful and most don't bother with expensive treatments. I understand the point of this article and agree that we spend too much on beauty, but these statistics are very flawed and need to consider different factors.

In the 50 plus category they calculated wrong.
169,274 should be under face not hair
and 21,840 should be hair not face.
making the life total completely different!

As a student attending beauty school about to graduate and get an esthetician's license I'd like to say that while these numbers may be untrue for each indivual person's lifestyle I think the purpose is to point out the EXTREME to which a woman can spend to achieve "her" definition of beauty. The beauty industry reaches far and wide. I happen to want to become a makeup artist at some point or open my own spa. I think though what a lot of people don't realize and this is something that is not taught to women is truly a form of self love not in terms of narcissm, but to love yourself for who you are as most are saying. I don't think perfection is what our creator, whomever that may be, intended for us because learning to live and love your faults is in my eyes part of life's lessons and journey.

It's each individual person's choice as to how much they want to invest in looking good. There are also purposes in services beauty professionals offer that I think some people additionally overlook. For example, services such as microdermabrasion are not just to prevent the aging process, but are used to aid in removing scarring from acne and the likes. As makeup artists there is the world of camouflage makeup which can be a wonderful service to offer to people who are marked by birth marks or who were burn victims who simply want to be presentable in everyday life to help them feel better. You can't tell me that at some point someone hasn't made a judgment of someone's appearance either positive or negative or that you haven't stared at someone who has some form of handicap or deformity perhaps because I believe a degree of it is human nature to be as we sometimes are. Even I've been guilty of the misprogrammed thoughts that society has placed on me, but at least I'm honest and try to reshape it.

And quite honestly I don't know anyone Who doesn't want a little pampering or to look and feel good about themselves. Not every plastic surgery service, facial service, etc. is chosen by an individual to be the next Pamela Anderson. Skin care in Europe is taught and practiced from a young age by women and men, but in American society we have very skewed views of things which infects society with some really twisted views on things. Society starting with children is very harsh. People seem to be cruel in that we don't teach from early on not to pick on or taunt one another for things from how we look to anything and everything else scarring our self confidence.

And what this article doesn't point out and main stream society may not even think of us is even in this economy there are at home things you can do without visiting a professional for upkeep. You can make at home exfoliants from sea salt, corn meal, or sugar in the raw, add an essential aromatherapy oil, honey as a hydrator, and have an at home service or use other fruits/vegetables in facial masks that can be high in antioxidants.

Services aren't even limited to beauty alone. We also learn massage techniques and incorporate them into a 20 minute back massage in our back treatments or incorporate massage techniques into facial services such as a scalp massage or reflexology while a mask is on a client's face for 10 minutes. It can be a relaxing experience for anyone having a stressful day.

I just wish people weren't one sided with things and so apt to make harsh assumptions. Life should be about moderation and doing whatever "you" want or feel is best. I believe the true point of this article may not have been to show the average American, but to illustrate the not so average (ie: those in the modelling, beauty pageant, movie industry, etc.) Everything in life will have it's extremes and that's what quite honestly needs to be pointed out to society is just how obsessive things can become.

I entered this industry because my great grandmother worked for L'Oreal and was a cosmetologist who ran/owned her own salon. She is the woman in my life who taught me how to read and I personally see the beauty industry as a service I can offer that for people can help their self esteem, pamper/relax them, and hopefully I can teach them that what you do to the outside doesn't mean anything if the inside isn't beautiful as well. I love the beauty industry and as someone who is entering her 30's and started in the legal field following her parent's dreams not her own am glad it is an industry with growth that I can move into. People sadly just aren't being taught anymore what true beauty is by their peers, parents, and so forth because it's much easier to open a magazine, surf the net, or turn on the television.

They ask why or what women/men spend on cosmetics because it's important to see just how much one "could" spend in a lifetime to obtain the ideals our society places on us to be attractive and I think people should realize that we're all jaded and have in some form shaped what society has deemed as "beautiful" because we all are attracted to whatever we believe that beauty is.

And I'm sorry if this isn't an organizational reply and I jump all over the place, but I'm pretty passionate about my work and beauty care.

This is just bad journalism. Why ask the cosmetic and plastic surgery companies what the average woman spends on this stuff?! Of course the results are going to end up horribly skewed. If you had asked the average woman, or consulted some neutral source like consumer reports, you'd probably find that a very very small percentage of American women start getting regular manicures at age ten and begin botox treatments at 25. This is an effort to guilt women into thinking that if they don't pay for these things then their appearance and hygiene are below average.

Hey, let's all quit spending money on this crap right now!

This might be true if you're talking about a modern diva to-the-extreme, who happens to be wealthy (or at least middle class and up), probably white, and shallow. A huge part of the population is being left out of this, and it really needs to be re-evaluated to include the rest of American society.

Ridiculous.

NOT that well researched**

I think the numbers are way over the top. The only people who spend like that are Fops and people who are in the same league as Madonna or Angelina Jolie. Its ridiculous to even say that a woman in their 30s/40s would spend money like that when most wouldn't. Once in an entire lifetimes maybe but not nearly as often as whats being portrayed in this article. I mean really. . . .who has $345 each week to spend on a facial, or would pay $65 to get their eyebrows plucked for crying out loud when you can do it yourself for free! Its a stupid article and that well researched obviously, unless of course its going by Hollywood standards.

I agree with all the others. The numbers and procedures described here are so exaggerated as to be blatantly obvious. How did this pass fact-checking? It's poor journalism, implying that this is the norm or the average, when the only women this applies to is a few plastic-surgerized stiletto-wearing disturbing examples on Rodeo Drive. I'm fairly stylish and live in a cosmopolitan city, and have never spent anything resembling the time and money described here. I don't know any other women who have had all these procedures, either. Recheck your facts, Newsweek.

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I completely disagree with their estimates! They've exaggerated to make the article more interesting. As far as cosmetics go- if it makes me feel great and look better and I've got the money....I'm going to buy it and use it! Why not support that sector of the economy??

I find it silly just how much time alone is spent on painting the face. Let alone the money that is spent over all those years like those stats I just read-which is very scary if i were a part of it, which I'm not. In my mid 20's I am, and I never found the need to apply so much paste, chemical and fat on my face or anywhere else for that matter. I liked the mentioning of modesty from "SGM". It's good to know their is still some humbleness in life, and for those divas-get secure about your bodies faster than aging faster than what you need to in the process.

I've always said that a women pays so much money and goes through so much pain to feel beautiful and be beautiful. Men does not, they take 10 minutes to get ready of a morning to a women who takes 45 minutes to and hour. so then why is it so expensive for a women to be beautiful? I don't think the prices should be so out rate, we have to live provide for families and then take care of ourselves. my opinion the prices should lower alittle at least.

I do find it silly just how much time alone is spent on putting paint on the skin.
In the mid twenties I am, never cared for any makeup purchasing like those stats I just saw, it is scary to think just how women find it necessary to cover up their faces. I liked the mentioning of modesty "SGM" wrote about. I know their is still modesty in life, but for those divas-get secure about your bodies before you age yourselves faster than needed.